Down Memory Lane
April 2008
THE MIDDLE STREET GALLERY MARKS 25 YEARS OF STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS
Rappahannock artist Steven Kenny has paintings in galleries around the world, but he says the Middle Street Gallery in Washington, Va. is a special place for him.
“I like exhibiting there because
I can really interact with the people who are seeing my work,” says Kenny, president of the gallery. “And I like the camaraderie, being able to interact with the other members, hearing about what they are going through, their struggles and triumphs.”
The Middle Street Gallery, a 20-person, non-profit artists’ cooperative, turns 25 this month, and it has had its share of struggles and triumphs. Members, most of them from Rappahannock and surrounding counties, tend to point to the triumphs – personal successes, skills learned, fond memories and gifts to the community.
Christopher Stephens of Front Royal has been a member 18 years. He says the gallery struggled to find its footing early on, not always able to realize the very high ideals of its members and plagued by high turnover. He says the gallery was like a “kid” when he joined, but over the years it has grown into “young adulthood.”
Benita Rauda Gowen, a painter from Flint Hill, says she “fantasized” about being a part of the gallery for many years. Now a member, she says, “The support of other artists means a lot, and the criticisms they give I take seriously. I’m not sure that I could be launching into a new medium and style – watermedia collage and abstract – without their encouragement.”
Learning from others, helping others, pitching in to keep the gallery running – it’s what distinguishes a cooperative from a commercial gallery, the members say. Barbara Heile, a painter from
Washington, Va., puts it this way: “Middle Street Gallery, as a cooperative, has given artists who are intensely individual a means to dialog and support one another in their individual work, while also creating something that the larger community can take part in.”
And, Heile adds, “Being a nonprofit gallery, we are free of the stress of believing we have to make a profit, and I would say this is very healthy. We manage to keep the heat and lights on. And for an artist and their guests, this can be enough. It is clearly about the giving and receiving of one's art.”
Dan Lewis of Woodville co-founded the gallery in the basement of Clopton House as a for-profit gallery in Dec., 1981. In April, 1983, he moved his gallery and framing shop across the street to its present location next to The Inn at Little Washington, in a building that dates to the 1740s and is thought to be the oldest building in the town. He converted the gallery to a non-profit co-op in 1987 in order to free up more time for painting. “I’m surprised it’s lasted this long,” he says. “It’s a tribute to the artists and the community. As long as the energy is there, I think it will go on indefinitely.”
Running a cooperative might seem a little like herding cats, except there is no cat herder at the Middle Street Gallery. President Kenny insists he is at most a coordinator, and he politely refuses, “except in an emergency,” to call the shots.
Not all members have backgrounds in the arts. New member Gary Anthes, a photographer from Castleton, has a background in business, information technology and journalism. “Whatever artistic ability I have, it is clearly getting nurtured by the other members,” he says.
Small. Quiet. Exceptional quality. A little gem, you might say, and not a bad start on the next quarter century.
► A longer version of this story will be posted at rappnews.com/dml on Friday